Alexandra McCurdy

Alexandra McCurdy, newly inducted member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts, and the International Academy of Ceramics is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and the Cardiff Institute of Higher Learning in Wales (Masters in 3D Design-Ceramics).

She was an Associate Curator of Ceramics at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for six years, and has shown her work both nationally and internationally. Her most notable solo exhibitions include the The Ties That Bind at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, and two solo travelling exhibitions; Mothers/Daughters, which originated at Halifax’s Mary E. Black Gallery, and S.O.S: Sources of Support, originating at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which travelled to the Confederation Centre for the Arts, PEI and to the Burlington Art Gallery, Ontario. She has just concluded a touring retrospective exhibition called The Fabric of Clay at the Burlington Art Centre in Ontario, travelling to Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in Nova Scotia, and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick.

Alexandra’s work is in the permanent collections of the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy; the Gardiner Museum, Ontario; the Burlington Art Gallery, Ontario; the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick; the Victoria Art Gallery, British Columbia; Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Nova Scotia; the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Ontario; the Canadiana Fund and the Royal Ontario Museum; the Art Bank of Nova Scotia; the Nova Scotia Museum; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and of the Crafts Nova Scotia. As well, her work is in numerous private collections.

Reviews of her work and articles about her career have been included in ceramic-focused periodicals including Australia's prestigious Ceramics: Art and Perception, American Ceramics, Ceramics Monthly from the US, and Canada's Contact, Fusion, Arts Atlantic, Ontario Craft, and Visual Arts Nova Scotia.

In 2019 she was accepted to the Marion McCain exhibition of Contemporary Atlantic Art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick, and to the 2019 Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in Korea. She was also awarded the Best Body of Work at the Craft Nova Scotia Christmas Market. In 2021, one of her works was a part of the Acadia University Art Gallery virtual exhibition ALONE, and in 2022 she had a piece curated into an exhibition called CONTAINED, at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Ontario.

Artist Statement: Beach Glass Series

The bowls with beach glass came as a result of many years of collecting glass on the island beaches of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.  We have a summer cottage there, and have picnics on these islands, 352 of them to be exact, and now have rows of antique glass bottles filled with beach glass on our window sills.

The most rare colours are the blue and turquoise.  Apparently, the blue glass comes from Noxzema jars or milk of magnesia bottles that were used in the old days.  The green and brown are very common, mostly from beer bottles, or from the old rum running.

Technology: Because each piece of glass comes from a different area and manufacturer, it is composed of different  ingredients.  There is no uniformity in the glass, and therefore, no predictability in the results.  When they turn out well though, they are great, and I get roughly 50% of what I make.

- Alexandra McCurdy, 2023

Artist Statement: Polka Dot Series

My work has always been influenced by textiles, their patterns and icons. My Polka Dot Series reflect the joy integral to the history of polka dots, which are inherently diminutive, automatically feminine. Today, when we wear them, we inherit their complicated legacy from the women that have worn them before us — women who have negotiated the shifting realm of trying to rock a dot and be taken seriously at the same time. As Ellie Woods’ college counsellor famously said, “Harvard won’t be impressed that you aced History of Polka Dots.” Need I say more?

- Alexandra McCurdy, 2023